Court orders arraignment of backhoe operator

MANILA, Philippines - The court handling the 2009 Maguindanao massacre trial has set the arraignment of the alleged backhoe operator who dug the graves of the massacre victims.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 yesterday ordered the arraignment of Bong Andal after the prosecution panel withdrew their request to turn him into a state witness.

“Considering that accused Bong Andal will no longer be presented as a witness by the public prosecutors, let his arraignment be set” on March 13, read the order.

On Friday, the prosecution panel led by city prosecutor Archimedes Manabat said they no longer wish to covert Andal into a state witness as the things he would testify on had already been covered by the testimony of former Sultan sa Barongis vice mayor Sukarno Badal.

Solis-Reyes earlier dropped Badal from the charge sheet in order for him to become a state witness.

Meanwhile, the court scheduled today the arraignment of suspects Dexson Saptula, Norhato Kamino, Abedin Alamada, and Talembo Masukat.

The arraignment of Saptula, Kamino, and Alamada was deferred last week as they had yet to be brought to the Quezon City Jail-Annex (QCJA) from their respective detention facilities in Mindanao.

QCJA officer-in-charge John Conrad Marcelino Basilio has since informed the court that the suspects are now in their custody. The four will be the 85th to 88th suspects who will be arraigned for the multiple murder case.

A total of 104 of the initial 197 massacre suspects have already been arrested. Among them were members of the Ampatuan clan, who were tagged as masterminds in the incident.

Fifty-eight people, including at least 32 media practitioners, died in the massacre dubbed as the single deadliest event for journalists in history.